BHUBANESWAR:The All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Bhubaneswar and IIT, Bhubaneswar have joined hands to develop a series of e-Health technologies that can radically alter healthcare services delivery systems in Odisha and the country.
The premier institutions have set about developing an e-Clinic kiosk that can establish early health warning systems, predicting disease patterns or outbreaks by evaluating prevailing climatic conditions and linking them to health profile of the region. Deployed in remote, rural and outbreak-prone areas, the intelligent climate-sensitive mechanism can play a critical role in prevention of outbreaks or check spread of disease.
The ambitious project to be undertaken by the School of Electrical Sciences, IIT and AIIMS Research wing, involves designing a climate-aware healthcare surveillance system that will combine environment sensing features like air quality, water quality, weather, vector, insect, pollen and allergen incidence with real-time health profile of the region, sources said.
Also on the line are development of a wireless Vital Signs Monitoring Device and e-Stethoscope, that would add teeth to the diagnostic services at the farthest mile of the healthcare delivery system in the State. The vital signs device will have integrated system to measure vital parameters like heart rate, blood oxygen saturation (SpO2), body temperature along with higher diagnostics as ECG and pulse oxymeter.
The e-Stethoscope, a low-cost audio visual device, can be used by nurses, medical trainees and doctors for effectively analysing and interpreting different types of heart sounds and murmurs related to cardiovascular diseases. It, in fact, is set to be used in trial at AIIMS soon.
“The objective is to develop wireless technologies that will not only upgrade rural health infrastructure without imposing heavy cost but also enable more effective monitoring of public health and dispensing healthcare services through telemedicine,” researches associated with the projects said.
Director, AIIMS Prof Ashok Mohapatra said research in clinical, biomedical as well as medical technology will be a key activity of the institution. “We desire to develop as a Centre of Excellence in research and innovation and are keen to strike collaborations with different top institutions in the country,” he said.
AIIMS, Bhubaneswar has also announced a grant of Rs 5 lakh for intermural research by junior faculty. It will be available to at least 15 per cent of the faculty every year. The financial incentive will encourage the faculty to get into research, which is sadly becoming less in medical field in the country by the passing day, Prof Mohapatra said.